Thanks for referencing Jerry Fiddler's article in EETimes. Jerry has become a technology spokesman because of his technical skills and clear-headed thinking, and everyone on this thread has experienced first hand his precise yet elegant way with words. If you recall, over a year ago Jerry posted an alternative survey result that challenged results being promoted on the thread by INT's PR person. He ended with a prophetic observation that each company's financial performance would leave little doubt as to which company is the leader. Within six months after making that statement, the two company's relative standing was clear.
In similar fashion, in the EETimes article he predicts the following:
>The first I2O-enabled computers will roll out later this year, and the
>snowball effect will touch everyone in the computer industry in the
>next two years. That's one prediction I feel safe putting in print.
Since we know he chooses his words carefully, the phrase "[I2O] will touch everyone in the computer industry in the next two years" was not made lightly and is apt to come true. The statement is made all the more provocative by the lack of detail explaining exactly how everyone will be touched.
I can think of many ways his prediction may turn out to be true. Which of the following do you think he had in mind?
1. Within two years virtually every server connecting users to the internet will be awash will I2O, on the motherboard, on NICs, and a host of peripheral devices such as disk systems and tape systems. Everyone in the computer industry touches the internet, so everyone will be touching I2O.
2. He also indicated in the article that "intermediate service modules" (ISMs) will become the logical home of I/O middleware components, so he probably sees JetSend being ported to IxWorks. Then an inevitable outcome of JetSend's imminent pervasiveness is that all computer people will touch I2O because, most certainly, they will be touching JetSend.
3. New technology that proves successful on Intel-Architecture servers always migrates rapidly (within two years) to PCs, and I2O will not be the first exception to this rule. Who in the computer industry doesn't touch a PC?
4. All next-generation ethernet switches, hubs, routers, etc will utilize I2O internally - and we know about the internet from (1) above.
5. Embedded Internet Devices (EIDs) are about to explode in popularity, touching everyone in the computer industry. Developers will discover, again within two years, that a Network Interface Module (NIM) based on I2O is an easy and robust way to endow these devices with flexible, updateable connectivity.
6. All the above.
Allen |
